Jesus Christ, as he is presented to us in the New Testament, and as
he stands forth from all its writings, is too single and too great to have been
invented so uniformly by all these writers. The force of Jesus Christ unleashed
these writings; the writings did not create the force. Jesus is far bigger and
more compelling than any of his witnesses. His reality stands behind these
writings as a great, global event stands behind a thousand newscasters.
Something stupendous unleashed these diverse witnesses to tell these stunning
and varied, yet unified, stories of Jesus Christ.

Nobody has ever explained the empty tomb of Jesus in the hostile
environment of Jerusalem where the enemies of Jesus would have given anything to
produce the corpse, but could not. The earliest attempts to cover the scandal of
resurrection were manifestly contradictory to all human experiencedisciples
do not steal a body (Matthew 28:13) and then sacrifice their lives to preach a
glorious gospel of grace on the basis of the deception. Modern theories that
Jesus didn't die but swooned, and then awoke in the tomb and moved the stone and
tricked his skeptical disciples into believing he was risen as the Lord of the
universe don't persuade.

Cynical opponents of Christianity abounded where claims were made that
many eyewitnesses were available to consult concerning the resurrection of Jesus
from the dead. “After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren
at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep” (1
Corinthians 15:6). Such claims would be exposed as immediate falsehood if they
could. But we know of no exposure. Eyewitnesses of the risen Lord abounded when
the crucial claims were being made.

The early church was an indomitable force of faith and love and sacrifice
on the basis of the reality of Jesus Christ. The character of this church, and
the nature of the gospel of grace and forgiveness, and the undaunted courage of
men and womeneven unto deathdo not fit the hypothesis of mass hysteria.
They simply were not like that. Something utterly real and magnificent had
happened in the world and they were close enough to know it, and be assured of
it, and be gripped by its power. That something was Jesus Christ, as all of them
testified, even as they died singing.

The prophesies of the Old Testament find stunning fulfillment in the
history of Jesus Christ. The witness to these fulfillments are too many, too
diverse, too subtle and too interwoven into the history of the New Testament
church and its many writings to be fabricated by some great conspiracy. Down to
the details, Jesus Christ fulfilled dozens of Old Testament prophecies that
vindicate his truth.

The witnesses to Jesus Christ who wrote the New Testament gospels and
letters are not gullible or deceitful or demented. This is manifest from the
writings themselves. The books bear the marks of intelligence and
clear-headedness and maturity and a moral vision that is compelling. They win
our trust as witnesses, especially when all taken together with one great
unifying, but distinctively told, message about Jesus Christ.

The worldview that emerges from the writings of the New Testament makes
more sense out of more reality than any other worldview. It not only fits the
human heart, but also the cosmos and history and God as he reveals himself in
nature and conscience. Some may come to this conclusion after much reflection,
others may arrive at this conviction by a pre-reflective, intuitive sense of the
deep suitability of Christ and his message to the world that they know.

When one sees Christ as he is portrayed truly in the gospel, there shines
forth a spiritual light that is a self-authenticating. This is “the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:6), and it is as
immediately perceived by the Spirit-awakened heart as light is perceived by the
open eye. The eye does not argue that there is light. It sees light.

When we see and believe the glory of God in the gospel, the Holy Spirit is
given to us so that the love of God might be “poured out in our
hearts” (Romans 5:5). This experience of the love of God known in the heart
through the gospel of Him who died for us while we were yet ungodly assures us
that the hope awakened by all the evidences we have seen will not disappoint us.